Wrench.



W. E. WASHINGTON WRENCH.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 3, 1911.

' 1,003,556. Patented'sept. 19,1911.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM E. WASHINGTON, OF CAPRON, VIRGINIA.

WRENCH.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known t-hat I, WILLIAM E. VVASi-r INGTON, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Capron, in the county of Southampton and State ofVirginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inivrenches, of which the following is a speciiication, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to wrenches and more particularly to a wrench ofthe quick adjustable type wherein the shank of the wrench is providedwith rack teeth to be engaged by a locking pawl mounted upon the movablejaw.

The primary object of the present invention resides in the provision ofnew and novel means for mounting the pawls whereby a maximum ofdurability is obtained.

A further object of the invention is to provide a wrench of the abovecharacter of very simple construction embodying means for obtaining avery minute adjust-ment of the movable wrench jaw.

lVith the above and other objects in View, the invention consists of thenovel features of construction, combination and arrange ment of partshereinafter fully described and claimed, and illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of awrench embodying my improvements; Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line2 2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of the plate carriedby the movable jaw upon which the locking pawls are mounted; and Fig. ais a detail perspective view of one of the pawls.

Referring in detail to the drawing 5 designates the shank of the wrenchwhich is provided wit-h a handle 6 at one end and the stationary jaw 7at its opposite end. The shank 5 is provided with a longitudinal slot- 8and one edge of said shank on opposite sides of the slot is serrated ortoothed as indicated at 9. It will be observed that the teeth orserrations on opposite sides o-f the slot 8 are staggered with relationto each other.

The movable wrench jaw 10 consists of the body or nut engaging portion11 and the plate 12 which is disposed longitudinally upon the shank oft-he wrench. A longitudinal flange or web 12 is formed upon this movablejaw and is movably disposed in the slot 8 of the wrench shank. To theedge of Specification of Letters Patent.

Application led May 3, 1911.

Patented Sept. 19, 1911.

Serial No. 624,772.

this flange, on the same side of the shank as -that on which the teethor serrations 9 are formed, a plate 13 is rigidly secured by means ofone or more fastening screws 14. As shown in Fig. 3, one end of theplate 13 is provided with the spaced rectangular openings 15, said plateat its edges and between said openings being formed with the ears 16.Locking pawls 17 are carried by the plate 18 and are providedintermediate of their ends with the ears 18 which are adapted to litinto the rectangular openings 15 of said plate. The ears 18 of the pawlsand the ears 16 formed on the plate 13 are provided with openings which,when the pawls are in position are alined to receive a pivot pin 19. Theplate 13 has a lug 20 formed on its end in line with the central ear 16,and the opposed edges of the pawls 17 are cut away as indicated at 21 toprovide the shoulders 22 which engage closely with said lug whichextends into the cut away portions of the pawls. In this manner thepawls are pivotally mounted upon the plate 13 and by providing theintegral lug 2O on said plate, the pawls are held against longitudinalmovement upon their pivots so that there is no frictional contactbetween the opposed edges of the pawls, thus permitting the same at alltimes to work easily.

To the plate 13 one end of a leaf spring 23 is fixed, the other end ofsaid spring being spaced from said plate and bearing against one end ofthe pawls 17. This spring engages the pawls at their opposed edges, saidpawls being' provided in their inner faces with notches or recesses 24:to receive the free end of the spring. Thus it will be observed that thespring also acts to retain the pawls in their proper positions upon theplate 13. The end of the plate 18 which is opposed to the stationary jawexn tends above the plane of the face of the movable jaw 10 and isadapted to engage the butt end of said stationary jaw. As will beobserved from reference to Fig. 1 of the drawings, the nut engaging faceof the movable aw is slightly inclined as indicated at 25, so that atits outer end when the jaws are completely closed, they are slightlyspaced while at the inner end of the movable jaw the same engagesclosely with the stationary jaw. It will therefore be seen that in theevent that the jaws are spaced too far apart at their outer ends afterthey have been adjusted to properly grip the nut,

the wrench may be positioned so that the nut is disposed between theinner ends of the jaws close to the wrench sha-nk where the properbinding engagement of the jaws upon the nut can be obtained.

From the foregoing it is thought that the construction and manner ofoperation of my improved wrench will be readily understood. The movablejaw is first adjusted in accordance with the size of the nut to which itis to be applied, either one of the pawls 17 engaging the rack teeth 9on one side of the slot 8 in the wrench shank. It will be obvious thatthese teeth may be either coarser or finer than those illustrated in thedrawing, but for general purposes, the spacing of the teeth as shown isbelieved to be proper.

The wrench is entirely constructed of steel, and while I have shown anddescribed a leaf spring for yieldingly holding the pawls in position, itwill be understood that other forms of springs may be utilized ifdesired. It will further be obvious that the device is susceptible ofmany other modifications in form, proportions and the arrangement of thevarious parts without departing from the essential feature or sacricingany of the advantages of the invention.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed is A wrenchcomprising a shank having a stationary jaw formed on one end andprovided with a longitudinal slot, one edge of said shank having seriesof rack teeth formed thereon on each side of the slot, the teeth of oneseries being arranged in .staggered relation to those in the otherseries, a movable jaw having a longitudinally extending portion engagingthe other edge of the wrench shank and provided with a longitudinalflange extending through and movable in the longitudinal slot of theshank, a plate rigidly fixed to the edge of said flange disposed formovement on the toothed edge of the shank, said plate having spacedopenings formed in one end thereof, pawls having ears formedintermediate of their ends adapted to be disposed in said openings, saidears and said plate being provided with alined openings, a pivot pindisposed therein, the opposed edges of said pawls being cut away attheir lower ends to form shoulders, said plate having a lug formedthereon engaging said shoulders, and a leaf spring iixed at one end tosaid plate, the opposed edges of the pawls being provided in their innerfaces with recesses to receive the free end of said spring to yieldinglyhold the pawls in engagement with theteeth on said shank.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aiiix my signature in the presence oftwo witnesses.

WILLIAM E. WASHINGTON. Witnesses:

M. C. LYDDANE, E. L. WHITE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

